| Answer: | During jet lag, your body clock effectively gets out of sync with the earth. Taking the neurotransmitter melatonin can be very helpful, but it needs to be used cautiously. It cannot be bought over the counter in Britain, but can be bought for your own personal use by mail order from the US or from American websites, as restrictions don' t apply there.
Note that supplementing too much melatonin can have undesirable side effects such as diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, dizziness, reduced libido, headaches, depression and nightmares. However, none of this is likely with short-term use.
The best way to bring yourself back into balance is to start with lmg of melatonin for every one-hour time difference, just before your new bed-time. Take this the first night, then halve the dose each subsequent night. So, if you fly from London to Los Angeles, which is eight hours behind, you take 8mg of melatonin on the first night, then halve it to 4mg for the second night, 2mg for the third, then 1mg, then stop. |
